New Arrival: Adam Plutko, sp, Cleveland Indians

Snagged this great looking card for $5…really happy.

Adam Plutko was a great college pitcher. He led UCLA to the 2013 College World Series and would beat Mississippi State in the first round of the Championship Series. UCLA would end up being crowned National Champions and Plutko was named the 2013 CWS MVP.

In the Indians drafted him in the 11th round of the 2013 draft. While he was a great college pitcher, the ceiling in the pros was something more like the #3/#4 starters, which is still very impressive. Considering his college career, and the team that drafted him, I was a fan since the day his name was called. It also helped that, as a polished college pitcher, he hit the ground running in the Cleveland organization. Unfortunately, he is a “no signature card” guy, so I was forced to work around that by sending him a scorecard from his first win in Low-A Lake County. I think it turned out great.

Plutko got his first taste of the big leagues in late-2016, getting the call to pitch out of the pen.

He spent the entire 2017 season in AAA and struggled, though this was most likely due to a nagging hip injury that would eventually require him to get offseason surgery.

Plutko opened the 2018 season in AAA, and healthy is once again dominated minor league hitters. In 44 IP he only allowed 27 hits, while striking out 35. Good for a 0.818 WHIP. These numbers got the notice of Tribe brass, and so far he has been solid in two spot starts for the big league club.

I think he has a future in with the Tribe, and should be part of the next wave of pitchers to fill out the back of the Tribe rotation after Kluber, Bauer and Carrasco. I love seeing guys like him develop into solid major league starters.